State picks eight firms to underwrite Vikings stadium bond issue

Blog Post by: Richard Meryhew

October 22, 2013 - 3:54 PM

Eight financial institutions have been selected to provide underwriting services for the issuance of $498 million in bonds to help cover the taxpayer portion of construction financing for the nearly $1 billion Vikings stadium project.

The Minnesota Department of Management and Budget picked the firms, which will pool services, from a list of 22 applicants.

The state has yet to set a date for issuing the bonds, which will probably be sold over a period of several years. The Vikings are responsible for $477 million of the stadium's $975 million construction cost with the state and city of Minneapolis picking up the rest.

The senior managing underwriter will be RBC Capital Markets. Other firms selected to play a role in the transactions are J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Securities, Piper Jaffray, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Cronin & Co., Inc, and Loop Capital Markets.

Stadium groundbreaking is tenatively scheduled for mid November, with the building set to open in time for the 2016 NFL season.